and playwright. In 1853, he published a collection of poems called Divan-i Şinasi. He is frequently labeled the "founder of the modern school of Ottoman literature." He earned this title based on his alteration of the Turkish verse to be more consistent with the French model and his translation of many French poems into Turkish. "He drew attention to European literature, expressed the need to make translations from it, and disseminated his belief—which became a correct prophecy—that a modern Turkish literature would be born on the models of Western literature." His translations of poetry, in addition to his French to Turkish translations of Enlightenment thinkers, encouraged others to translate significant works of European thinkers and contributed to the Westernization of the Ottoman Empire. The Wedding of a Poet Arguably, Şinasi's most famous work was the play The Wedding of a Poet (). It was not the first theatrical work written in a Turkic language, as the Azerbaijani playwright Mirza Fatali Akhundov's work had appeared first,<ref name="Source 12">İbrahim Sinasi. The Wedding of a Poet: A One-act Comedy (1859). Trans. Edward Allworth. Whitestone, NY: Griffon House Publications, 1981.</ref> but it was the first widely recognized play written by an Ottoman person in the style of modern European theatrical productions, and it had a strong influence on the canon of plays that followed. The one-act comedy was written in 1859 but was not published until 1860. It was printed as a serial, in parts called Tefriqa in his newspaper Tercüman-ı Ahvâl in response to the growing popularity of theater in the Ottoman Empire. European acting troupes from London, Paris, St. Petersburg, and other major cities increased the demand for plays amongst the people of the Middle East, particularly in urban centers like Tbilisi, Istanbul, and Cairo. In writing this play, as was typical of his artistic style, Şinasi employed a Turkish language that was closer to the vernacular, rather than the vocabulary and structures previously used by the cultural elite. He intentionally distorted the way he spelled words in order to make the language more phonetic and to aid in the performance of the play. He included Arabic letters in his writing, contributing to the "anarchy which finally ended in the downfall of Arabic script." This play was also novel in Ottoman circles, because it directly and satirically addressed issues of contemporary interest. Şinasi used the play to criticize both traditionalists and the